Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Our dear brother Ben Parker is recovering from being sick last week. He's feeling better but needs to rest. We miss him and pray for his full recovery and look forward to seeing him up here on Wednesday evening for our small group time that he leads. So, you're stuck with me as your substitute teacher this morning for Sunday school. In our study through the Psalms, we've been making our way recently through the Psalms of Ascent, which were at the heart of Israel's festivals. The pilgrims would recite these Psalms as they ascended up to Jerusalem on Mount Zion. These psalms of ascent are made up of five triads, so five groups of three psalms. And this morning we come to the middle psalm of the final triad, Psalm 133, which would accompany the pilgrim's arrival at Jerusalem. I've titled our study, I've busted out rhymes this morning, I've titled our study, The Beauty of Unity in God's Community. And that's really what Psalm 133 is all about. It's about the beauty of unity in God's community. That's right. You can go ahead and turn there in your copy of God's eternal and perfectly inerrant word to Psalm 33. We're going to read through it in a moment, but before we do, I'd like to begin our time by first just paraphrasing and condensing four key chapters from the Bible. The opening two chapters and the final two chapters, the closing two chapters. So Genesis 1 and 2 and then Revelation 21 and 22. We were discussing just this past Wednesday night about how there are those key chapters of the Bible which just have this soaring significance for the storyline of the Bible. Chapters like Genesis 12 and 15, which, if you're following the McShane plan you read this morning, and 22, or Exodus 20, 2 Samuel 7 is a huge one, Matthew 5 through 7, and so forth. Well, these four chapters that I'm about to overview are of soaring significance for understanding all of the Bible and also for understanding our particular psalm today. So I'm going to ask you to just listen carefully to the way the Bible begins and ends, and then I'll throw out some questions about it so that we can discuss and consider what we learn from these four important chapters as context to our psalm. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. In six days, He created them, and on the sixth day, God said, let us make man in our own image, after our likeness, to have dominion and rule over all our creation. So God created man in His own image, male and female, He created them. First, He formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a soul. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. The tree of life was in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And God commanded the man saying, you may eat of every tree in the garden, all except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For in the day you eat from that tree, you will surely die. Then God said, it's not good for man to be alone. So I'll make him a helper who is just right for him. So God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep and he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And from the man's rib, he formed a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man exclaimed, Wow, at last, this one is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She will be named woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore, the man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. And God blessed them saying, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over all creation. And God said, come, look, I've given you every plant on the face of the earth and every tree producing fruit to have for food and everything that has breath, I have given every plant for food. And God saw everything that he made and behold, it was very good. So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. On the seventh day, God had completed his work of creation, and so he rested. Then I looked and I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, come look, the dwelling place of God is now with man. He will live with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will live with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will there be grieving, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who is seated on the throne said, come and see, I am making all things new. And he said to me, it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. Then an angel came and spoke to me saying, Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. And I looked, and I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. And he also showed me on either side of the river the tree of life. with its 12 kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will worship Him. They will see Him face to face. And the Lamb said, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright and morning star. The Spirit and the Bride say, come. And let the one who hears say, come. And let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the water of life without price. Surely, I am coming soon. Amen. Okay, so just listening to the two creations, the first creation and then the final creation to come, which serve to bookend God's living and active word for us. What are some things that strike you? See any similarities between the two? Good, a marriage in the beginning and a marriage in the end. What else? That's exactly right. There's this amazing access to the presence of God. There's no conflict between us and God. There's this reconciliation, this unity in both creations. We saw in both, we saw the tree of life. So a lot of similarities that we see there. And one of the things that we see in both the original creation and in the new creation that we don't see throughout the whole rest of the Bible is the complete absence of division and conflict. There's total peace in the first two chapters of the Bible and the last two chapters of the Bible. There's this pre-war peace and unity in Genesis 1 and 2, and then this post-war peace and unity in Revelation 21 to 22. Now, in between those two, lie nearly 1,200 chapters of division, hostility, aggression, alienation, betrayal, and disunity. The Bible is a story that's all about God and his reconciling, unifying, peace-pursuing, redemptive activities. So its storyline from Genesis through Revelation, it records division and conflict, earthly and cosmic, natural and supernatural, the paradise of Genesis 1 and 2 disintegrates swiftly into the disaster of Genesis 3. And so as we read the Bible, we see the lines of division being drawn, the war between God and Satan, between God's people and Satan's people. Chapter after chapter records victories and losses. The casualties are great. Souls lie strewn across the Bible's battlefield. And the conflict continues throughout human history up to our own day, and will not come to an end until it culminates in Revelation 20's last battle, where we witness the final revolt, overthrow, and destruction of the devil and all who belong to him. After that, but not one hour before, will the unity and the peace which characterized creation at the beginning, be forever restored in a new creation, a new heaven and a new earth, never to be broken again. But we can also say that paradise's unity and peace that turned to disunity and to warfare under the curse by the fall, it has now been significantly restored in Jesus Christ, who came to secure unity and to accomplish peace as the unifying God of peace made flesh. He is the prince of peace, and by his victory through the cross and resurrection, he's the fulfillment of this creational vision of peace and unity. And so we can even say that there is this sense in which the new creation has already begun, first with him who was raised and exalted incorruptible, and extends also to us who are incorporated into him by faith. This is why it's fitting that Psalm 133 comes immediately after the promise of blessing through Messiah's reign and rule, which came at the very end of Psalm 132 that we saw last week. And this is why the Apostle Paul can say in 2 Corinthians 5.15, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is what? A new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. And then listen to the language of unity that follows. Paul says, all this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that is in Christ. God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. And the point is this, that Jesus, as the Prince of Peace, he is the first fruits of that new creation. And in him, we have an already and not yet experience of true unity and reconciliation and peace, both with God, so vertically, and with our brothers and sisters, horizontally. And it is a beautiful, beautiful, in this dark world that we see just filled. You look out there, you read the news, filled with divisions and conflict and hatred and rivalry and violence and betrayal, warfare, in a world filled with these evidences of the curse. How beautiful it truly is when brothers dwell together in unity, in peace. And in fact, one of the reasons it can be even seen as so spectacularly, brilliantly beautiful is precisely because it's seen shining brightly against the dark backdrop of division and hostility and disunity. You know, in the history of this little congregation, we've experienced both unity and disunity over the years here at Dayspring, living life together as a local church with members, you know, united and covenanted together for the kingdom as a family. Most starkly in recent memory is that disturbance, which took place almost five years ago in the summer of 2019. Some of you were were there, and you remember just the disunity, the hostility, the division, the animosity, and rivalry, and betrayal, and ugliness, the darkness of all that. It's all in the distant past now, and I haven't spoken publicly about it too often, but in light of our psalm this morning, now seems to me to be a fitting time to do so. After those men whom I had counted as personal friends and fellow elders had suddenly turned and, from my perspective, spiritually abused me over a number of weeks behind closed doors trying to convince me that Dayspringers no longer wanted me as their pastor and that I wasn't qualified even to be a pastor. Three Dayspring elders actually stood right up here where I'm standing on the Lord's Day when I was on my annual vacation with my family after the worship service. And right after singing Amazing Grace, they immediately said, I went back through the church archives, so I would quote it exactly. We, the ruling elders of Dayspring, have had to ask our beloved Pastor Greg to step down from the pastorate, from pastoral ministry. It was with great angst, with great grief that we had to do that. But this last Friday, he tendered his resignation and will no longer be the pastor here at Dayspring. Shockingly, that turned out to be an outright lie and more lies quickly followed. They stood up here and they declared that I wanted to step down and that I had wanted to step down for three years, but that they had been convincing me to stay on. They misrepresented the purpose and the context of my sabbatical and of our adding an associate pastor to the staff to fit their new narrative. They lied to the congregation by indicating that Ben Fletcher, David Harrell, and Ed Price had all agreed with their decision to ask for my resignation when these men had not agreed, quite the opposite. During the Q&A, they made contradictory statements, mocking statements, angry statements, arrogant statements, and even said that they wished they had a photograph of me coming out of a brothel, which planted all kinds of evil thoughts into people's minds, as though I'd been guilty of some kind of sexual immorality or disqualifying sin. They also lied by saying that I had been asked to be present there that Sunday and yet had declined their invitation to attend. There were some heated exchanges and even some walkouts. And then the following Sunday, it grew even more contentious. There wasn't even a worship service to God held. The same three elders who had stood here the prior week calling themselves ruling elders, they each just abandoned their post. They resigned their office. They simply forsook Dayspring, they've never been back, leaving the congregation as a sheep without shepherds. That day in this very room, it was characterized by chaos, outbursts of anger, people running out of this room making accusations towards one another. One of the deacons who served in the AV ministry, he edited the description of one of my messages on Sermon Audio with the words, quote, this sermon mimics the self-contradicting and convoluted aspects of John Piper and Thomas Schreiner's teachings that admittance to heaven at the final judgment is according to works. And then they changed the password so that we who were left at Dayspring, we were locked out of our Sermon Audio account. The elders who had abandoned Dayspring, they remained in charge of moderating the church email system. We were also locked out of that. That email system has always been reserved for prayer requests and edifying words. And they instead began to officially allow a steady stream of emails through to the Dayspring email list, which didn't fit the criteria that they themselves had established. We began to read words like, our decision to leave Dayspring became necessary after witnessing the premeditated, unscriptural, and unrighteous coup against our elders, as well as against our 41-year-old scriptural tradition of elder rule this past Sunday morning. We cannot remain and support those who chose to undermine our church and its leaders, the leaders who have organized, fostered, and help to carry out this rebellion have demonstrated that they are unfit to be trusted and to serve the body in any capacity. This uprising and undermining has been carried out in darkness by craft and deceit." Another email that they allowed through said, the degree of betrayal by former elders who once had spiritual oversight over Dayspring is terrifying. Another one they promoted by allowing it through said, Greg's pride of life and concern with the optics and public image and his non-submission to God's authority structure has brought Dayspring to the point of being torn apart. What took place this last Sunday with retired elders was one of the ugliest and vulgar displays of a simple emotional manipulation to maintain the status quo. namely an unfit, rebellious, scripturally disqualified elder. These men are shameful and worthy of rebuke. We will no longer be able to walk through those dayspring red doors without being reminded of the gross malpractice and utter contempt for God's word His sovereignty concerning Dayspring that sweetness and respite that we have experienced for 28 years coming through the Dayspring doors is now gone and we will never get it back and and several more upset and confused and accusatory emails from people who Didn't know The reality and were caught up in the spirit of leaving the church and they were allowed through to the whole church by the ex-shepherds who had already left the church. It was a chaotic, shameful display of a spirit of division, hostility, and disunity among brothers, perhaps more than we've ever experienced as a local church. And then, against that dark, dark backdrop, a very different kind of email came through. which could not be denied. It was from one of our humble, gentle, and prayerful sisters who was with us this morning, and it simply quoted God as follows. Turn from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. Psalm 34, 14. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Matthew 5, 9. If it's possible as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Romans 12, 18. Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Romans 14, 19. If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. Galatians 5, 15. As a prisoner for the Lord then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit just as you were called to one hope when you were called, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4, 1-6. Since then you have been raised with Christ. Set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3, 1-2. Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues, put on love which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body, you were called to peace. And be thankful. Colossians 3, 12 to 15. Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the name of the Lord. with a pure heart." 2 Timothy 2.22. Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Hebrews 12.14-15. Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness." James 3, 13 to 18. Finally, all of you, Live in harmony with one another. Be sympathetic. Love as brothers. Be compassionate and humble. Don't repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called, so that you may inherit a blessing. For whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good. He must seek peace and pursue it. 1 Peter 3, 8 to 11. What a bright breath of fresh air that was after all that hot air. just timely and fitting words from the mouth of God. I remember reading and rereading those verses, those living and active words from God. And we could add to them, we could add to them these words from Psalm 133, beginning this morning in verse 1. Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity It is like the precious oil on the head running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore. These past four and a half years or so since that ugly disturbance, we have been so tremendously blessed by God to experience the blessing described by David here in this psalm, right here in this place, in this local church. And we can say, all of us, I think, with the psalmist, how good and how pleasant it is, God's blessing, of his people dwelling together in unity. King David had known his own dark backdrop. He had known the divisive years of King Saul's reign, which was characterized by envy, rivalry, evil suspicion, private malice, and even civil war. And now that David The man after God's own heart had finally been coronated as king over a unified kingdom. He is able to point and say, look, see, behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. It is something to behold. It is good. It's the same Hebrew word that God pronounces over his creation. It is very good. A pleasant, that's a word that means beautiful and lovely, sweet and delightful. It's a delight, this unity among God's people. It is good. David employs two similes here in order to just poetically bring out this goodness and pleasantness. So first he says it's like the precious oil that anoints the high priest, that's verse two. And then he says it's like the dew of Hermon falling on Zion, that's verse three. Well, both of these images need some explanation for them to really impact our hearts the way they're meant to impact us. So first, verse two, this dwelling in unity of God's people, is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes. the anointing of Aaron and of all the priests. It used the finest, most fragrant oils and would symbolize the gifts of God to the people and the responsibilities now laid upon their leaders through this ceremony. It was a sign of election and closely related to the blessing or even the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Of course, the high priest's office and function was to make atonement for the people's sins through sacrifices, to bridge unity between God and his people vertically, from which would then flow unity horizontally among God's community. An office and a function that Jesus, on the cross, fulfilled once and for all. Our reconciliation with God and unity with one another, it flows from His finished priestly work of offering Himself as the sacrifice for us on the cross. Jesus was the anointed one. That's what the Hebrew word, Mashiach, Messiah, in the Hebrew, what it means. It's translated into anointed one or Christ. Christos, in the Greek, translated as anointed one. This is who Jesus was, the one who was anointed by God and has accomplished this reconciliation for us. So this image looks forward to the unity that Jesus alone accomplishes for us. In the Hebrew here, the same verb is repeated three times for emphasis of the oil running down. emphasizing that the blessing is coming down from above, namely from God. So the image is pointing to the fact that unity, it's a gracious blessing that comes from God. It is the gift of God. It originates with God. It's the good and pleasant gift of our sovereign God. Secondly, verse three. This brotherly life of unity is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountain of Zion. This is just an extraordinary image full of significance and highly symbolic because dew from Mount Hermon doesn't actually fall on Mount Zion. That is geographically impossible, which is why the NIV version is even more helpful here. It says in verse three, it is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. That's the picture. And so here's the significance. Here's the meaning. of that grand imagery. Dhu, like the oil that comes down from the previous simile, Dhu represents divine blessing and life that comes down from God. And portraying brotherly unity as Dhu coming down here from the great northern mountain of Hermon to the smaller mountain of Zion in the south, that wonderful picture indicates that it is a heavenly miracle coming down from God and reconciling divisions by bringing Hermon, the chief mountain of the northern kingdom of Israel, and Zion, the mountain of the southern kingdom of Judah, uniting them together as one in the same divine life-giving due from God, from heaven. David wrote this during a united kingdom, but division was soon coming. And as the pilgrims to Jerusalem during all those divided years would recite this Psalm of Ascent, how powerful that imagery would have been. How hopeful, too, to point not only back to the unity that God's people once knew for a short season under King David, but also pointing forward to the restoration of the whole kingdom, to the ultimate unity to come for God's people under the greater king, the greater son of David. Finally, the end of verse three, for there, where? On Mount Zion? On Mount Hermon? No. Remember, those are just images of the reality of what? The unity of brothers dwelling together. So for there, namely where verse one is true, there, where brothers dwell in unity, there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore. So this is amazing. There where brothers dwell in unity, where there exists this good and pleasant beauty of the unity of God's community, there is where God has commanded forevermore the blessing of life. Unity here among God's people, it's a foretaste of heaven. It is a foretaste of what we heard from Revelation 21 and 22, the new creation, that post-war peace and unity of a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells, where there is the tree of life. And brothers dwell in perfect, undisturbed unity forevermore, world without end. And so in light of that consummation and that future, how are we to live today? What's the application of this psalm of ascent to us today? In David's day, this picture of unity was a picture of Israel who were brothers united by the common worship of the one true God. They worshiped Yahweh together. They had the promises together and shared the fathers together. And when they did that, it was beautiful and good and pleasant. They would recite these Psalms of Ascent in unison together. That was something to behold, David says in verse 1. It is something to take notice of. Today, this still applies to God's community, to God's people in the context of the church, elect from every tribe and nation and tongue. We are brothers in Christ, and it is good and pleasant when we brothers dwell together, live together in unity from above, unity from God. So I want us to consider here in closing what this looks like for us as the church in two different aspects. First, our unity as the universal church. Our unity as the universal church. Now we don't agree with everything that every local church around the globe may do or believe, but we are united with them in the gospel. Dayspring is united with every local church on the face of the earth that proclaims the true gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations. We are united in that confession, in that proclamation, in that work, in that mission. And we don't look down upon them and despise. those local churches that belong to Jesus, that Jesus died for, whether those churches are Arminian, or dispensational, or politically liberal, or infant baptizing, or Anglican, or Lutheran, or African, or Chinese, or whatever have you. It is too small a thing that God would be glorified only at day spring. Austin is too small. America is too small. Praise God that Jesus Christ, by His precious blood, has purchased for Himself sinners from every tribe, every tongue, every nation to be His bride, His unified church. just a small part of a great multitude that no man can number in heaven and on earth, and we are united together in that universal church by the gospel. I love how you see this with the Apostle Paul, how Paul, you know, he was bold, he was unashamed to take a stand and to divide with so-called brothers who were not really brothers, with those who were preaching a different gospel, which Paul says isn't a gospel at all, but rather the doctrine of demons, and he pronounces them accursed. But for those who preach the true gospel, even brothers who were jealous of Paul, who were caught up in rivalry and selfish ambition and evil suspicion and all that, who were seeking to do Paul personal harm, He rejoiced that they were spreading the gospel to the lost. Isn't that amazing? That is the attitude that I'm supposed to have towards those former bad shepherds from five years ago. They are my brothers in the universal church who preach the true gospel. And so I rejoice in that. I pray for them in that. For God's blessing and equipping and strengthening of them for the mission that we share together in unity despite them seeking to do me harm. Knowing that God's promise to me is just as valid and true and faithful for them, that God is sovereignly working out all things for their good. Amen? We'll be worshiping God the Father together one day for all eternity with the Universal Church with our brothers and sisters in Christ from every age, from every local church around the world in perfect unity. There is beauty and there is goodness and there is delight in our unity, our lifting up of our voices as one and confessing the true gospel, praising and worshiping the one true God in Christ Jesus our Lord as the Universal Church. So our unity as the universal church. And then secondly and finally, our unity as the local church. Our unity as the local church. Those of you especially who did go through just the chaos and confusion and heartache over those two Sundays of conflict and disturbance all those years ago, You know more deeply the truth of the goodness and the delight of brothers dwelling together in unity in the local church. It is a beautiful blessing. What we're about to do together at 11 o'clock this morning, singing and praying and eating and drinking and praising and glorifying God together with one voice. God is blessing us together in a special way in corporate worship. If you've ever had to stay home and stream the service, which I'm sure some are doing, this cold morning snuggled up with hot chocolate, you know It's just not the same, right? Far from it. Being here, dwelling together in unity, it is lovely and pleasant and beautiful. So good, right? When we pray alone by ourselves or read the Bible alone or even sing to God alone, that is good and meaningful. But man, when we pray together, when we gather around God's word together, When we sing his praises together, there's nothing like it. It is a foretaste of heaven. Congregational unity is a foretaste of paradise, of the paradise to come. Day Spring, you know, Day Spring is a real family. you and for me. And that's why we love and put up with each other and even bear one another's burdens. We are family, brothers, sisters, and I'm blessed. I'm so blessed that you are a family to me. On Thursday this week, I was offered another church. That doesn't happen Very often, I think this was only the second time it's ever happened, I was flattered. A seasoned old saint with 15 or so grandkids who serves as one of the elders of John Reisinger's former church in Pennsylvania. He knows me well and he asked me over the phone if I would be interested in pastoring his church. They've been looking for three years. And as with similar offers, I didn't need to even take time to think about it. Dayspring is home to me. It's my family. It's not just some job I do, right? I'm not just some hired hand. And so I told this dear old brother what I have told others in the past, that nothing could tempt me away, that I intend to finish my ministry here at my home at Dayspring in God's sovereign timing, because this is my home. This is my family. And as a family, as we pursue unity in all of our relationships here and help others to do the same. What are we doing? We are reflecting that the very character of our peacemaking, unifying savior to one another and to the lost world out there. And what I just want to encourage you with here and leave you with at the close of our lesson is what it means for you to be a member of this family. What it means for you as a brother or sister to dwell with the brothers and sisters of Dayspring in unity. It means loving one another, investing in one another, forgiving one another, spending time with one another, building up the body, with one another, sharing the gospel with others and bringing them also into this beautiful unity, welcoming new and unknown Dayspringers into our unity, into our family, discipling one another, counseling one another. and always guarding this precious, sweet, good, and pleasant unity that God has blessed us with, which always begins with guarding our own hearts. Making sure that you haven't drifted off into viewing one another with an evil eye. Taking care that you haven't stumbled off into allowing animosity, or hurt feelings, or suspicion towards this or that Dayspringer. to supersede love and grace and mercy and forbearance with someone Jesus so loved that He laid down His own life and died for. If we love Jesus, we love His church, we love His people. Martin Luther warns that, quote, Where there are dissensions, divisions, and discord, there is the dwelling of Satan. But behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. It's like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore. Let us pray. Our Lord, you are the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep. And so we pray that you would equip us with everything good for doing your will, and may you work in us what is pleasing to you, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. Amen.